Temporary telephone numbers are numbers that are assigned to users for use for a limited period of time. There are websites that, for a fee, provide these temporary telephone numbers to users who wish to preserve their privacy by keeping their real telephone numbers secret. The temporary telephone numbers are popular with a wide variety of users, such as eBay sellers, people using dating services, business running temporary ad campaigns, etc. Instead of giving out their real telephone number, a user gives out the temporary telephone number to parties that may want to contact the user. When a call is made to the temporary telephone number, it is forwarded to the user's actual telephone number or mailbox. When the user does not need the temporary telephone number anymore, they “disconnect” it by ceasing to pay for it.
The forwarded call may be accompanied by calling number identification, which indicates the telephone number or identity of the caller. But no indication is given to the called party that the call was made to their temporary number as opposed to directly to their real telephone number. This problem is compounded for users who use a plurality of temporary telephone numbers simultaneously, such as a business that uses a different temporary number for each different ad campaign. Such a user is given no indication of which one of the temporary numbers a caller had called.
Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) is a service sold by telephone companies to corporate clients that lets them know which telephone number was dialed by a customer. The telecommunications company sends a DNIS number to the client's phone system during the call setup. But DNIS forwarding is traditionally done for a fee, requires specific network attachment gear, and can only be done at the last hop of the call when the call is being sent from the public network to a private PBX. Without SIP, there is no easy mechanism to signal the additional information to the endpoints.
The Vector Directory Number (VDN) of Origin Announcement (VOA) service of the Communications Manager (CM) Call Center from Avaya Inc. provides agents with a short (1.5 seconds or less) announcement about a caller's city of origin or requested service based on VDN used to process the call. The VOA is a recorded announcement that is played (or the II digits are displayed) to the call center agent after the zip tone but just before a call is cut through to the agent. This allows agents on any phone to know information about the call. The VOA is recorded and adminstered as part of the call center set-up. The VOA can be recorded based on a service, and then it is associated with a VDN to announce the service associated with the DNIS. All of this is done by an administrator through the CM administration pages. So CM takes the DNIS number dialed by the calling party, that number is translated to a VDN, and the associated announcement, if any, is played to the agent. CM uses the II digits to display information regarding the caller's city of origin. For example, the administration can assign priority to emergency services if the II digits indicate that the caller is calling from a pay phone or a mobile phone. Or, one can flag a call that comes in from a prison/detention center. The II digit standard are found at: http://www.nanpa.com/number_resource_info/ani_ii_assignments.html. For example, for the number “1-800 Flowers”, a VDN can be based on the DNIS for 1-800 Flowers—the number that was originally dialed—and a VOA can be associated with the VDN. So if one dials 1-800 Flowers, there is a VDN just for this telephone number. Then the associated VOA is, for example, “1-800 Flowers/II digits.” So the call center agent hears or sees “1-800 Flowers/call from mobile phone.